To Ga To Ga To Ga To Ga

If God is a frat boy, heaven may turn out to look a lot like Panama City Beach did last week. The sleepy little honky-tonk beach town-the Deep South’s summertime “Redneck Riviera”-is taking on mighty Daytona Beach for the heavyweight national championship of intercollegiate rest and recreation. Panama City is wooing vacationing college kids with an attitude that less inebriated poli-sci majors might recall as laissez faire. Police Chief Lee Sullivan says his 40-man force will let the dudes party on until the last can of Coors Light gets crushed on a pimply forehead Easter weekend: “They’re here to have fun. And we don’t see our job as being to get in the way.”

For the students, spring break is fun-but for Panama City and Daytona Beach, it’s about money. Some 250,000 revelers flock to both sites (with a slightly smaller number heading toward South Padre Island on the Texas Gulf Coast); each spends more than $300 on hotels, beer and T shirts that say things like A MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING TO WASTE. Each town has its attractions: Daytona is a high-rise, condos-and-concrete kind of place that boasts concerts and giveaways by 200 corporate sponsors ranging from Anheuser-Busch to MTV. In Panama City-well, “You can drink on the beach,” explains Dave Nies, a 25-year-old Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute grad. Daytona has tried to extend a bit of the old in loco parentis doctrine with tough police scrutiny and a high-profile “Party Smart” program to cut down on drinking and driving; that’s why the town is better known today for squelching the party than pumping it up. In Panama City, it’s far more loco than parentis. While Miller Brewing bought billboards telling kids DON’T HESITATE. DESIGNATE, the message gets muddled in a place where grocery stores have wall-mounted beer taps.

For the moment, Panama City appears to be winning. “Unless you like martial law, you come here,” says Matt Manne, 23, who calls himself a “sixth year” senior at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. “Daytona? Not!” Travel-industry sources say spring-break business in Daytona could drop by 25 percent this year, with Panama City moving up by a bit more. Daytona city fathers have fired back with a $200,000 “Welcome to Daytona Beach Spring Breakers” campaign. Daytona isn’t pleased about losing the trade, but Panama City’s victory might not be a happy one. “When it’s overrun like Daytona was, we’ll see if the town is still smiling,” says Brad Nelson, who sells spring-break tour packages. The party never stays anywhere for too long. After seven self-imposed years on the party sidelines, Ft. Lauderdale is even trying to get back in the game; a spring-break promo magazine touts its “places to damage the mind and soul.” Remember, kids, it was Yeats who wrote, “All things fall and are built again, and those that build them again are blotto.”

Photos" Beach party: Ad flier; college students and the ‘beer bong’ (MARK WALLHEISER-SILVER IMAGE)

title: “To Ga To Ga To Ga To Ga " ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Robert Rubottom”

If God is a frat boy, heaven may turn out to look a lot like Panama City Beach did last week. The sleepy little honky-tonk beach town-the Deep South’s summertime “Redneck Riviera”-is taking on mighty Daytona Beach for the heavyweight national championship of intercollegiate rest and recreation. Panama City is wooing vacationing college kids with an attitude that less inebriated poli-sci majors might recall as laissez faire. Police Chief Lee Sullivan says his 40-man force will let the dudes party on until the last can of Coors Light gets crushed on a pimply forehead Easter weekend: “They’re here to have fun. And we don’t see our job as being to get in the way.”

For the students, spring break is fun-but for Panama City and Daytona Beach, it’s about money. Some 250,000 revelers flock to both sites (with a slightly smaller number heading toward South Padre Island on the Texas Gulf Coast); each spends more than $300 on hotels, beer and T shirts that say things like A MIND IS A WONDERFUL THING TO WASTE. Each town has its attractions: Daytona is a high-rise, condos-and-concrete kind of place that boasts concerts and giveaways by 200 corporate sponsors ranging from Anheuser-Busch to MTV. In Panama City-well, “You can drink on the beach,” explains Dave Nies, a 25-year-old Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute grad. Daytona has tried to extend a bit of the old in loco parentis doctrine with tough police scrutiny and a high-profile “Party Smart” program to cut down on drinking and driving; that’s why the town is better known today for squelching the party than pumping it up. In Panama City, it’s far more loco than parentis. While Miller Brewing bought billboards telling kids DON’T HESITATE. DESIGNATE, the message gets muddled in a place where grocery stores have wall-mounted beer taps.

For the moment, Panama City appears to be winning. “Unless you like martial law, you come here,” says Matt Manne, 23, who calls himself a “sixth year” senior at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green. “Daytona? Not!” Travel-industry sources say spring-break business in Daytona could drop by 25 percent this year, with Panama City moving up by a bit more. Daytona city fathers have fired back with a $200,000 “Welcome to Daytona Beach Spring Breakers” campaign. Daytona isn’t pleased about losing the trade, but Panama City’s victory might not be a happy one. “When it’s overrun like Daytona was, we’ll see if the town is still smiling,” says Brad Nelson, who sells spring-break tour packages. The party never stays anywhere for too long. After seven self-imposed years on the party sidelines, Ft. Lauderdale is even trying to get back in the game; a spring-break promo magazine touts its “places to damage the mind and soul.” Remember, kids, it was Yeats who wrote, “All things fall and are built again, and those that build them again are blotto.”

Photos” Beach party: Ad flier; college students and the ‘beer bong’ (MARK WALLHEISER-SILVER IMAGE)